- Scientists mapped changes in young people’s brains as they develop
- Found previously unknown changes in the the brain’s communication hubs
- Those with the biggest changes in their brains in adolescence were more likely to have genes linked to schizophrenia most strongly expressed
- Experts hope finding will help uncover the origins of mental illness
Madlen Davies for MailOnline
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Teenagers’ brains can show signs of mental illness years before symptoms develop, a study shows.
Scientists have mapped the structural changes that occur in young people’s brains as they grow.
Using these maps, they are able to explain why the first signs of schizophrenia and depression often arise during late adolescence.
Experts hope the findings will shed light on the origins of these mental illnesses – and others.
Teenagers’ brains can show signs of depression and schizophrenia years before symptoms develop, according to new research. Experts have mapped the changes that occur in brains as young people grow
The team, from Cambridge University used MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans to analyse the brains of almost 300 young people aged 14 to 24.
They found regions of the brain linked to schizophrenia develop quickest during this time.
The outer regions of the brain, known as the cortex, shrink in size, becoming thinner.
However, as this happens, levels of myelin – the sheath that ‘insulates’ nerve fibres in the brain, allowing them to communicate efficiently – increase within the cortex.
Previously, myelin was thought mainly to reside in the so-called ‘white matter’, the brain tissue that connects areas different regions and allows for information to be communicated between them.
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But the new study revealed it can also be found within the cortex – the ‘grey matter’ – and levels increase during teenage years.
In particular, the myelin increase occurs in the ‘association cortical areas’ – parts of the brain that act as hubs – or major connection points between different regions in the brain’s network.
Dr Kirstie Whitaker, of Cambridge University, said: ‘During our teenage years our brains continue to develop.
‘When we’re still children these changes may be more dramatic but in adolescence we see the changes refine the detail.
‘The hubs that connect different regions are becoming set in place as the most important connections strengthen.
‘We believe this is where we are seeing myelin increasing in adolescence.’
Experts found teenagers whose brains showed the greatest changes in scans were more likely to have strongly expressed genes linked to schizophrenia (file photo)
The researchers compared these MRI measures to a 3D map called the Allen Brain Atlas which pinpoints genes.
They found those brain regions that exhibited the greatest MRI changes during the teenage years were those in which genes linked to schizophrenia risk were most strongly expressed.
Professor Ed Bullmore, of Cambridge University, said: ‘Adolescence can be a difficult transitional period and it’s when we typically see the first signs of mental health disorders such as schizophrenia and depression.
‘This study gives us a clue why this is the case – it’s during these teenage years those brain regions that have the strongest link to the schizophrenia risk genes are developing most rapidly.
‘As these regions are important hubs that control how regions of our brain communicate with each other, it shouldn’t be too surprising that when something goes wrong there, it will affect how smoothly our brains work.’
It is known that mental health disorders tend to emerge in late adolescence. Researchers revealed why: important changes occur in the brain’s ‘communication hubs’ during these years. If something goes wrong, this can affect the organ’s function (file photo)
He said we should think of the major hubs of these brain networks as international airports in an airline network.
Disrupting the development of a brain hub could have as big an impact on the organ’s function ‘as disruption of a major airport, like Heathrow, will have on flow of passenger traffic across the airline network,’ he said.
Dr Raliza Stoyanova, of the Wellcome Trust, which funded the study, said: ‘A number of mental health conditions first manifest during adolescence.
‘Although we know the adolescent brain undergoes dramatic structural changes the precise nature of those changes and how they may be linked to disease is not understood.
‘This study sheds much needed light on brain development in this crucial time period, and will hopefully spark further research in this area, and tell us more about the origins of serious mental health conditions such as schizophrenia.’
The study is published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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